Multiple boiler furnace steam plant



Sept. 1, 1936. c w COLBY 2,053,131

MULTIPLE BOILER FURNACE STEAM PLANT Filed D60. 19, 1934 2 Sheets-Sheet l Invemfior; Cigde cQlbg, EWQAJL?! I Has Attm fiew 63 jug Sept. 1, 1936. c. w. COLBY MULTIPLE .BOILER FURNACE S TEAM PLA NT Filed Dec. 19, 1954 2 Sheets-Shet 2 Inventor: 'Clgde W. Colby,

Hss Attorneg.

Patented Sept. 1, 1936 UNIT STATES 2,053,131 MULTIPLE BOILER FURNACE STEAM PLANT Clyde:W.0olby, Holyoke, Mass, .assignor to General. Electric Company, a corporation. of New York AI plication'December 19, 1934, Serial .No'..758, 216

4 Claims.

Thepresentiinvention relates tomultiple boiler furnace steam plants. particularly Where a large' number of relatively small 'capacity' boiler furnaces are operated to supplya steam load of relatively. large value- One of the objects'is to 'provide animproved construction whereby the boiler furnaces may be interconnected in groupsina confined 'space with practicallyall of=the steam, water and fiue'pipes located below the furnaces! Another object is to insurea proper supply of air: for-combustion in the furnaces while preventing-heated airprising-fromthe steam and-flue pipes upwardly around the furnaces.

A further'object'is to provide an improved" interconnecting arrangement for the groups of' boiler furnaces so as to facilitate the steam; water and flue piping connections", maintain uniform combustionand steamgenerating conditions in each-boiler furnace of a group, conserve the'floor space requ-ired for installation of the groups 'of boiler furnaces-and at'the same'time' render each.

boiler furnace readily'acc'essible forinspection' and repair.

Other objectswill appear from the following illustrate a preferred'emb'odimentiof the invention-in a relatively large capacity central steam plant'employing a large" number of. automatic oil .,fired boiler furnaces of the-type ordinarily used'in domestic heating service.

In the-'drawingsl 'i'g; 1 isya. schematic plan view of-the-multiple automatic oil fired boiler furnace steam-plant; Fig. Zis a sectional elevation of the steam plant shown'inFig; l;' Fig. 3 vis a plan view of a singlegroup" of the boiler furnaces on..an enlarged scale in order more clearly to show the improved interconnecting arrangement thereof. and Fig; 4 is an'elevation of the group of boiler .furnaces shown in Fig.3 .with certainparts broken. away'and'. some parts omittedin order. more clearly to reveal the details."

In thesteam plant shown in Fig. 1. a. plurality of groups of boiler furnaces..G1.to..Gi2. are inter.

. connected to supply steamto the steam. main. I0.

To facilitate the steam, waterandfiue piping. connections,. thev boiler furnaces in each. group, aredisposed' in radially. spaced relation and provided '-with"convergi n'g steam connections, con-. verg i-ng"-return" water connections and" converging-flueconnections which-areshown more clear- 7 1y in -Figs. 3 and"4.

' Each-of the-automatic oil "fired" boiler furnaces shown is of 'the type provided witha steam "out- --let connectiorr I I a line outlet l2 extending descriptionof the accompanying" drawings which from the rear of the furnace as disclosedin the copending application, SerialNo. 676,651, filed June 20, l933-by Henry S. Woodruff; and assigned to the assignee of my present invention although the present invention is not necessarily limited 51'. thereto. In each boiler furnace combustion is producediby suitable means such as an automatic oil burner mechanism located under the removable hood I3. The combustion air is supplied-to the burnermechanism from the surrounding ate '10 1 mosphere through the" louvers formed in the-air inlet conduit I4.

Asshown' in Fig; 3 each group comprises five boiler furnaces F1 Fto-F'a disposed radially about the vertical axis a: with an angle of 72 between the center lines-0f the adjacent furnaces. In this wayan eflicient utilization of the floor space required for installation of thegroup of furnaces isobtained and at the same time each boiler furnace is readily accessible for inspection and repair.

In each group of boilerfurnaces, a common steam collecting drum 2-0 is located on the vertical axis a: considerably above the level of the steam outlets I I of the boiler'furnaces. The steam collecting drum 20 is connected to'each of thesteam' outlets II of the boilerfurnaces by the converging steam connection pipes 21. Preferably these converging steam connectionpipes- 2| are of slightly spiralled form" asindicated in Figs. 3 and 4 so as to obtain flexibility and thereby avoid excessivestrains or stresses due to unequal expansion. The connecting pipes 2| preferably are welded at one end to the steam drum 20 and provided with a bolted fiange fitting 22 atthe other end for detachable connection" with the boilerfurnace steam outlet II Steam is supplied from the common steam drums v20 ofeach: group or furnaces through a steam feeder-.2: 23-.whi'ch: extends downwardly 40 through :an: opening'I 5 inthe floor I6 upon which the: boiler furnaces are mounted. A hand shutoff valve 24 I preferably is provided: adjacent drum; 202-101, cutting oif'each group of boiler furnaces from-.thesteam lines.

Ineach group. of boiler furnaces a common flue 25 is located on the vertical axisxbelow: the bottomof theboiler furnaces and .is provided .with. the converging flue connection. pipes 26for connection with. the flue outlet I2 of each furnace. The converging flue connections 26 extend downwardly through the central circular opening I'I formed in the, furnace supporting floor lfi'con'centri'cwith the axis a: about which thegroup-ofboi'lerfurnaces;F1 tdli't are mounted in radially spaced relation. A cutoff damper 2'! is provided in flue 25.

A common return water drum 30 is disposed on the vertical axis a: between the common steam drum 20 and the common flue 25 at the approximate level of the water line of the boiler furnaces indicated by the dotted line L. Water drum 30 is connected to each of the boiler furnaces in the group by means of the converging return water connections 3| which are staggered or radially offset to obtain flexibility and facilitate installation. The common return water line 32 extends upwardly inside of the drum 30 to approximately the level of the water line L. A '7 pressure equalizing connection 33 extends between the top of the common return water drum 30 and the common steam drum 20. The hand shutoff valve 34 is provided for closing the equal-.;

Similarly a hand shutoff izing connection 33. valve 35 is provided for cutting off the common water return drum 30 from the return Water line 32. Also a blow-off line 36 with hand valve 31 is connected to the water drum 30.

It will be noted that with construction described the steam, return water and flue connections to each boiler furnace are readily removable. Thus in case failure of any boiler furnace occurs, the correspondingrgroupof furnaces may be cut off from the steam, water, and flue lines. quickly removed and a spare boiler furnace readily substituted.

Figs. 1 and 2 show the groups of boiler furnaces G1 to G12 located symmetrically on either side of the steam main l0 which is removed entirely from the boiler furnace room and located below the floor l6 upon which the furnaces are mounted, thus being readily connected to an underground steam piping system. The steam main I0 is progressively reduced in diameter where the lateral steam feeders 40 connecting with the steam supply pipe 23 from the groups of boiler furnaces branch symmetrically therefrom as indicated by the dotted lines in Fig. 1. This insures a minimum pressure drop in the steam lines with a minimum amount of piping when all or any part of the groups of boiler furnaces are operating to supply steam to the main ID.

A main return water distributing tank 45 is located symmetrically between the groups of boiler furnaces directly above the steam main ID on the furnace supporting floor [6. Branch feeder pipes 46 extend from each side of the water distributing tank 45 and are joinedto the return water line 32 of eachgroup of boilers. Suitablecondensate pumping means (not shown) are provided for automatically maintaining the water in tank 45 at the boiler water level L.

The main flue conduit 50 receives the products of combustion from the various groups of furnaces through the lateral flue connections 5| which join with the common flues 25 of each group of furnaces. It will be understood that While not shown the main flue conduit 50 is connected to a suitable stack, preferablywith forced draft fans provided for insuring adequate draft conditions.

Any desired numberof groups of boiler furnaces may be operated to supply steam to the steam main I 0 dependingupon .the load requirements. With the arrangementf described, substantially uniform combustion and steam generating conditions are maintained in each: boiler furnace I Df Ye 0f the number of grqups operating.

The faulty furnace then may be dangerous exposure of the crown sheets of the boiler furnaces is effectively prevented.

To insure an adequate supply of combustion air to the burner mechanism of the boiler furnaces-as well as adequate ventilation of the pew er plant, a plurality of forced draft fans 60' are provided for forcing air under pressure nto the room in which the groups of furnaces G1 to G12 are located. Preferably the forced draft fans 60 are located in alignment at one end of the boiler room above the level. of the furnaces so as to draw air from the outside and force the air to circulate in a sheet over. the top of the furnaces. A portion of this air is drawn into-each furnace through the louvers in the air inlet tubes l4 shown in Fig. 4 during operation thereof; The remainder of the airpasses downwardly over the furnaces and through the several central circular openings I! in the floor l6 about which the furnaces are grouped. The air is then exhausted from the space below the floor l6 by the exhaust blower 6|. In order to insure uniform distribution of the air, the exhaust blower 6| is connected through the conduits 62 with a plurality of adjustable air inlet housings 63. These housings are located in the space below floor l6 adjacent each group of the furnaces as indicated by the dotted lines in Fig.1. By adjusting the relative size of the air inlet openings of the housings 63, uniform flow of air through the several central openings I 1 may be obtained. With this improved downward air flow arrangement the boiler furnaces are effectively protected from any heat rising from the steam piping and from the flues.

By means of the present invention ,the entire space required for installation of the large number of boiler furnaces is reduced to a minimum. Also the invention enables practically all steam and flue and return water connections to be removed from the boiler room proper into the space below the floor supporting the boiler furnaces. Thus with the improved construction the installation of a multiple boiler steamplant may be made successfully in a confined space where otherwise this would not be possible.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent in the United States is:

1. In combination, a plurality of boiler furnaces disposed in radially spaced relation about a vertical axis and having converging steam connections extending from the upper part thereof: andconverging flue connections extending from the lower part thereof, a common steam collecting drum disposed on said axis and joined to said converging steam connections, and'a common flue disposed on'said axis and connected to said con-'-- verging flue connections.

2. In combination, a plurality of boiler furnaces disposed in radially spaced relation about a vertical axis and having converging steam connections extending upwardly therefrom, converging water supply connections extending centrally therefrom and converging flue connections extending downwardly therefrom, a steam collecting drum.a water supply drum, and a. flue all disposed in spaced apart alignment on said axis and joined respectively to said steam connections, said water supply connections and said flue connections.

3. In combination, a plurality of groups of I boiler furnaces having a common water line, and

each group having a common steam collecting drum and a common water supply drum separately connected to each furnace in the group with the water drum extending above and below the water line thereof, a pressure equalizing connection between the steam and water drums in each furnace group, and a common water supply tending downwardly through said opening, and 10 ventilating means for forcing air from around said furnaces downwardly through said opening.

CLYDE W. COLBY. 

